Maimonides & Spinoza

Maimonides & Spinoza PDF Author: Joshua Parens
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226645762
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
Until the last century, it was generally agreed that Maimonides was a great defender of Judaism, and Spinoza—as an Enlightenment advocate for secularization—among its key opponents. However, a new scholarly consensus has recently emerged that the teachings of the two philosophers were in fact much closer than was previously thought. In his perceptive new book, Joshua Parens sets out to challenge the now predominant view of Maimonides as a protomodern forerunner to Spinoza—and to show that a chief reason to read Maimonides is in fact to gain distance from our progressively secularized worldview. Turning the focus from Spinoza’s oft-analyzed Theologico-Political Treatise, this book has at its heart a nuanced analysis of his theory of human nature in the Ethics. Viewing this work in contrast to Maimonides’s Guide of the Perplexed, it makes clear that Spinoza can no longer be thought of as the founder of modern Jewish identity, nor should Maimonides be thought of as having paved the way for a modern secular worldview. Maimonides and Spinoza dramatically revises our understanding of both philosophers.

Maimonides & Spinoza

Maimonides & Spinoza PDF Author: Joshua Parens
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226645762
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
Until the last century, it was generally agreed that Maimonides was a great defender of Judaism, and Spinoza—as an Enlightenment advocate for secularization—among its key opponents. However, a new scholarly consensus has recently emerged that the teachings of the two philosophers were in fact much closer than was previously thought. In his perceptive new book, Joshua Parens sets out to challenge the now predominant view of Maimonides as a protomodern forerunner to Spinoza—and to show that a chief reason to read Maimonides is in fact to gain distance from our progressively secularized worldview. Turning the focus from Spinoza’s oft-analyzed Theologico-Political Treatise, this book has at its heart a nuanced analysis of his theory of human nature in the Ethics. Viewing this work in contrast to Maimonides’s Guide of the Perplexed, it makes clear that Spinoza can no longer be thought of as the founder of modern Jewish identity, nor should Maimonides be thought of as having paved the way for a modern secular worldview. Maimonides and Spinoza dramatically revises our understanding of both philosophers.

Maimonides and Spinoza

Maimonides and Spinoza PDF Author: Barry Jay Luby
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Jewish philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 158

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Book Description


Maimonides, Spinoza and Us

Maimonides, Spinoza and Us PDF Author: Marc Angel
Publisher: Jewish Lights Publishing
ISBN: 1580234119
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
A challenging look at two great Jewish philosophers, and what their thinking means to our understanding of God, truth, revelation and reason. Moses Maimonides (1138-1204) is Jewish history's greatest exponent of a rational, philosophically sound Judaism. He strove to reconcile the teachings of the Bible and rabbinic tradition with the principles of Aristotelian philosophy, arguing that religion and philosophy ultimately must arrive at the same truth. Baruch Spinoza (1632-77) is Jewish history's most illustrious "heretic." He believed that truth could be attained through reason alone, and that philosophy and religion were separate domains that could not be reconciled. His critique of the Bible and its teachings caused an intellectual and spiritual upheaval whose effects are still felt today. Rabbi Marc D. Angel discusses major themes in the writings of Maimonides and Spinoza to show us how modern people can deal with religion in an intellectually honest and meaningful way. From Maimonides, we gain insight on how to harmonize traditional religious belief with the dictates of reason. From Spinoza, we gain insight into the intellectual challenges which must be met by modern believers.

Maimonides and the Sciences

Maimonides and the Sciences PDF Author: Robert S. Cohen
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401721289
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description
In this book, 11 leading scholars contribute to the understanding of the scientific and philosophical works of Moses Maimonides (1135-1204), the most luminous Jewish intellectual since Talmudic times. Deeply learned in mathematics, astronomy, astrology (which he strongly rejected), logic, philosophy, psychology, linguistics, and jurisprudence, and himself a practising physician, Maimonides flourished within the high Arabic culture of the 12th century, where he had momentous influence upon subsequent Jewish beliefs and behavior, upon ethical demands, and upon ritual traditions. For him, mastery of the sciences was indispensable in the process of religious fulfilment.

Spinoza and Medieval Jewish Philosophy

Spinoza and Medieval Jewish Philosophy PDF Author: Steven M. Nadler
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107037867
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
The first of its kind, this essay collection offers an extensive examination of Spinoza's relationship to medieval Jewish philosophy.

Maimonides

Maimonides PDF Author: Moshe Halbertal
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400848474
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 399

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Book Description
A comprehensive and accessible account of the life and thought of Judaism's most celebrated philosopher Maimonides was the greatest Jewish philosopher and legal scholar of the medieval period, a towering figure who has had a profound and lasting influence on Jewish law, philosophy, and religious consciousness. This book provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to his life and work, revealing how his philosophical sensibility and outlook informed his interpretation of Jewish tradition. Moshe Halbertal vividly describes Maimonides's childhood in Muslim Spain, his family's flight to North Africa to escape persecution, and their eventual resettling in Egypt. He draws on Maimonides's letters and the testimonies of his contemporaries, both Muslims and Jews, to offer new insights into his personality and the circumstances that shaped his thinking. Halbertal then turns to Maimonides's legal and philosophical work, analyzing his three great books—Commentary on the Mishnah, the Mishneh Torah, and the Guide of the Perplexed. He discusses Maimonides's battle against all attempts to personify God, his conviction that God's presence in the world is mediated through the natural order rather than through miracles, and his locating of philosophy and science at the summit of the religious life of Torah. Halbertal examines Maimonides's philosophical positions on fundamental questions such as the nature and limits of religious language, creation and nature, prophecy, providence, the problem of evil, and the meaning of the commandments. A stunning achievement, Maimonides offers an unparalleled look at the life and thought of this important Jewish philosopher, scholar, and theologian.

Maimonides on the "Decline of the Generations" and the Nature of Rabbinic Authority

Maimonides on the Author: Menachem Kellner
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438408676
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 149

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Book Description
Moses Maimonides, medieval Judaism's leading legist and philosopher, and a figure of central importance for contemporary Jewish self-understanding, held a view of Judaism which maintained the authority of the Talmudic rabbis in matters of Jewish law while allowing for free and open inquiry in matters of science and philosophy. Maimonides affirmed, not the superiority of the "moderns" (the scholars of his and subsequent generations) over the "ancients" (the Tannaim and Amoraim, the Rabbis of the Mishnah and Talmud) but the inherent equality of the two. The equality presented here is not equality of halakhic authority, but equality of ability, of essential human characteristics. In order to substantiate these claims, Kellner explores the related idea that Maimonides does not adopt the notion of "the decline of the generations," according to which each succeeding generation, or each succeeding epoch, is in some significant and religiously relevant sense inferior to preceding generations or epochs.

Philosophical Religions from Plato to Spinoza

Philosophical Religions from Plato to Spinoza PDF Author: Carlos Fraenkel
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521194571
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 357

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Book Description
This groundbreaking account of the concept of a philosophical religion traces its history from antiquity to the Enlightenment.

Leo Strauss and the Rediscovery of Maimonides

Leo Strauss and the Rediscovery of Maimonides PDF Author: Kenneth Hart Green
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226307018
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
In Leo Strauss and the Rediscovery of Maimonides, Kenneth Hart Green explores the critical role played by Maimonides in shaping Leo Strauss’s thought. In uncovering the esoteric tradition employed in Maimonides’s Guide of the Perplexed, Strauss made the radical realization that other ancient and medieval philosophers might be concealing their true thoughts through literary artifice. Maimonides and al-Farabi, he saw, allowed their message to be altered by dogmatic considerations only to the extent required by moral and political imperatives and were in fact avid advocates for enlightenment. Strauss also revealed Maimonides’s potential relevance to contemporary concerns, especially his paradoxical conviction that one must confront the conflict between reason and revelation rather than resolve it. An invaluable companion to Green’s comprehensive collection of Strauss’s writings on Maimonides, this volume shows how Strauss confronted the commonly accepted approaches to the medieval philosopher, resulting in both a new understanding of Maimonides and a new depth and direction for his own thought. It will be welcomed by anyone engaged with the work of either philosopher.

Maimonides

Maimonides PDF Author: Israel Drazin
Publisher: Gefen Publishing House Ltd
ISBN: 9789652294241
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
An examination of the remarkable penetrating mind of Moses Maimonides and to his rational eye-opening thoughts on many subjects. It includes ideas that are not incorporated in the usual books about this great philosopher because they are so different than the traditional thinking of the vast majority of people. It contrasts the notions of other Jewish thinkers, somewhat rational and others not rational at all. The reader will be surprised, if not shocked, to learn that a host of beliefs that are prevalent among the Jewish masses have no rational basis. This does not suggest that Judaism itself is irrational and absurd. Just the opposite. But many Jews have opted to believe the unreasonable and illogical conventional ideas what Maimonides would label non-Jewish sabian notions because they have not been acquainted with Maimonides correct rational alternatives and taken the time to reflect upon it.